NASCAR all-time great Jeff Gordon built a legacy worthy of sport's Mount Rushmore

No. 24's career proves to be transformative

Al Pearce

Autoweek

NASCAR's Rushmore: Gordon, Earnhardt, Pearson and Petty

Transformative. That perfectly describes Jeff Gordon’s place in NASCAR’s 67-year history. If there’s ever a stock-car driver Mount Rushmore, he’ll join Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and David Pearson as the first four images.

Transformative, because he proved to Southern-centric team owners that young, open-wheel, dirt-track racers from California were perfectly capable of handling heavy stock cars in long races on banked, paved ovals. (Would Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards or Kasey Kahne be in Sprint Cup today if not for Gordon’s success?)

Transformative, because he overcame conventional wisdom and got his first full-schedule Cup ride at age 21. By comparison, Harry Gant didn’t get his until he was 40. Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip were 29, Dale Earnhardt and Stewart 28, and Rusty Wallace 27. (Others reached Cup in their youth, but none was nearly as successful as Gordon.)

Transformative, because he and crew chief Ray Evernham set the competitive bar so high, rivals had to pony up to make their teams better.

Lastly, transformative because with the right mix—talent, intelligence, youth, refinement and good looks—Gordon took stock-car racing to mainstream America like nobody else could, no matter their track record or fan following. Beloved as he was, can you imagine Earnhardt hosting “Saturday Night Live” or bantering on “Live with Regis and Kelly”? (Dismiss those TV moments if you want; NASCAR never will.)

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NASCAR

Gordon with Dale Earnhardt

From the mid-’60s to the mid-’70s, Richard Petty hauled NASCAR from virtual obscurity outside the Southeast to some degree of national awareness. Allison, Cale Yarborough and R.J. Reynolds Inc. helped push things along in the late ’70s, then Earnhardt, Waltrip, Bill Elliott and network TV helped carry the load. Then in the early ’90s, Gordon and his Chevrolet-based No. 24 Rainbow Warriors took over and took NASCAR to new heights.

They won 49 times in 222 starts between ’93 and ’99, eventually getting to 93 going into the final two races of 2015. Their success during those first seven years included three of their four Sprint Cups, two of their three Daytona 500s and two of their five Brickyard 400s. Earnhardt and Wallace—the second- and third-winningest drivers, respectively, during that time—also won 49 races … if you combine their totals. And Earnhardt never won another Cup after Gordon won his first in 1995. Reason enough for the Intimidator’s fans to hate the upstart pretty boy.

Gordon has changed NASCAR. His philanthropic outreach has been unmatched. His relationship with fans and media has been professional and respectful. Others have been glib and articulate—here’s to you, Mr. Waltrip—but nobody else has been as influential on Madison Avenue as he’s been on International Speedway Boulevard. Stock-car racing is lucky to have had him and will miss him.